Micronauts #29-35 (1981)

In the aftermath of last story’s battle, SHEILD and the Micronauts hold a funeral. We start with the small picture, on the splash page, and then see it in the larger context…

I just really like that sequence.

Then Doc Samson comes in with some very strange clinical theories that, basically, Commander Rann is can be saved from his coma—which occurred as a result of The Enigma Force leaving his brain. This leads to one of my favorite kinds of adventures: Heroes being shrunk to go inside another hero’s body and save him.

The wrinkle here is that Dr. Strange’s villain, Nightmare, likes Rann’s brain being broken so he tries to stop the team from saving Rann. This launches a big story arc in which the team has to obtain three keys, with the help of Dr. Strange, and stop Nightmare and save Rann. I’m not going into a lot of detail about those issues because, at the end of the day, they don’t matter a lot to the greater Marvel Universe, but it’s a solid tale.

I continue to be surprised, issue after issue, at the quality of this book. By all rights, it should be a silly toy spin-off.

Creators: Bill Mantlo and Pat Broderick
Grade: C+
For the complete history of the MU, year by year, go here.